1,000 Jewish Recipes (124 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
2.
Add yogurt to shallot mixture. Season to taste with salt and cayenne. Stir in thyme, parsley, and half the chives. Adjust seasoning. Serve cold. Serve in a bowl, sprinkled with remaining chives, or spoon a little onto each latke and then sprinkle it with chives.
A dollop of this creamy sauce is the perfect complement to
Leek Latkes
. Make it with regular or reduced-fat sour cream, yogurt, and mayonnaise.
1
â
2
cup sour cream
1
â
4
cup yogurt
1
â
4
cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, or to taste
1 to 2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar or herb vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Mix sour cream, yogurt, mayonnaise, and mustard in a bowl until smooth. Stir in 1 teaspoon vinegar, followed by green onions, tarragon, and parsley. Add more mustard and vinegar if you like and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Onions cooked until they are sweet and soft are often called onion marmalade. Usually they are tangy and sweet, like in this recipe, which is made with sweet onions, dry red wine, wine vinegar, cranberry juice, and a little brown sugar. How sweet to make it depends on your taste and on the sweetness of the onions. If you like, add more sugar or vinegar to the finished marmalade and simmer a minute to blend them in.
Chefs often serve onion marmalade as a savory-sweet accompaniment for meats. I find it's a great complement to latkes too, especially those that are flavored with a little onion. It's a delectable topping for
Classic Potato Latkes
, whether fried or baked,
Saint Louis Carrot Latkes
, and
Sweet Potato Pancakes
. Sweet onion marmalade is also good in cold chicken or turkey sandwiches.
2 tablespoons olive oil
2
1
â
2
pounds red onions, white onions, or other sweet onions, halved and sliced thin
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1
â
3
cup red wine vinegar
2
â
3
cup dry red wine
1
â
4
cup cranberry apple juice
1.
Heat oil in a large sauté pan or stew pan. Add onions. Sauté over medium heat, stirring often, 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, 5 minutes or until onions are golden brown; reduce heat if they are browning too fast.
2.
Add 1 tablespoon sugar to onions, stir, and cook 1 minute to dissolve sugar. Add vinegar and bring to a boil, stirring. Add wine and bring to a boil. Cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring often, about 5 minutes or until most of liquid evaporates. Add cranberry apple juice and cook, stirring often, until it is absorbed and onions are very tender. Adjust seasoning. If you like, add remaining sugar and cook another minute, stirring. Serve hot or cold.
If you're able to get good tomatoes at Hanukkah time, prepare this savory topping to serve with your latkes. The tomatoes may be expensive but you need just a little bit of topping to add a lively color to your plate of latkes. You can serve the latkes with only this topping, or with a yogurt or sour cream topping in addition. If you can't find ripe tomatoes, you can use good quality canned ones. I like this topping with any latkes, but especially with those made of potato, zucchini, or cauliflower.
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 medium ripe tomatoes (about 1 pound), diced (see Note)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add garlic and sauté over medium heat 30 seconds. Add parsley and toss over heat a few seconds. Remove from heat and stir in tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
2.
To serve, spoon topping over center of each latke. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Note:
If fresh tomatoes are not available, use a 14
1
â
2
-ounce can whole tomatoes. Drain well, dice, and drain again.
Like many good cooks, my mother makes applesauce this way, for Hanukkah or any time. All the parts of the apple, including the peel and core, contribute their flavor to this applesauce. If the peel is red, it adds a little color too. You save time peeling the apples but then you do need to work the applesauce through a food mill.
If you don't have a food mill, you can still make this applesauce. Simply peel and core the apples, then puree the applesauce in a blender or food processor. It might come out thicker but you can adjust the thickness with water.
Use any apples that are good for cooking. Recipes often call for tart apples such as Pippin or Granny Smith, but I also like medium-tart ones like Jonathan or sweet apples such as Golden Delicious or Gala. Besides, if you use sweet apples, you need less sugar.
This applesauce is plain and simply highlights the taste of the apples. There are many ways to flavor the applesauce: you can simmer a cinnamon stick or a vanilla bean with the apples or you can flavor the finished applesauce with all sorts of seasonings: a pinch of ground cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves, or grated lemon rind or vanilla extract. If you prefer, cook the apples with equal amounts of brown sugar or honey instead of white sugar, then taste and adjust sweetener if necessary. Applesauce keeps 3 or 4 days in a covered container in the refrigerator.
4 pounds apples, quartered
1
â
2
cup sugar, or more if needed
1
â
2
cup water
1 to 2 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice (optional)
1.
Combine apples, sugar, and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, 10 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring often, about 15 minutes or until apples are very tender. Let cool.
2.
If any liquid remains in pan, use a slotted spoon to transfer the apples to a food mill fitted with the coarse grating disk. Puree the apples in the food mill. Return puree to the saucepan. Simmer a few more minutes, stirring, until applesauce is as thick as you like it. Add lemon juice, if using, or more sugar, if needed. If adding sugar, simmer applesauce 1 minute, stirring, to blend it in.
 or
Â
In our house this applesauce is the favorite topping for potato and sweet potato latkes. In France some call this mixture apple compote, while others refer to it as apple marmalade. It is actually a thick, chunky version of applesauce. This mixture is said to originate in Normandy, the French province famous for apples, butter, and a powerful apple brandy called Calvados, which some cooks like to slip into their applesauce for extra zest. French cooks do not add water so the apple flavor will be intense.
Chunky applesauce is easier to make than most versions because you don't need to strain it through a food mill, which is messy to clean. The apples cook quickly because they are cut into thin slices. This delicious applesauce keeps for several days.
When making it, start with the smaller amount of sugar and add more if you wish, according to the sweetness of the apples and, of course, to your taste. If you prefer unsweetened applesauce, use Golden Delicious apples, which are naturally sweet, and omit the sugar. You can make the applesauce with oil instead of butter so it will be pareve.
2 to 4 tablespoons butter or 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 pounds Golden Delicious, Pippin, or Granny Smith apples, peeled, halved, cored, and thinly sliced
